NutraNet is an interactive Web site that guides individuals with intellectual disabilities through the process of daily menu planning/selection. It is capable of generating simple print-outs of each menu. NutraNet presents menu choices via series of click-able on-screen photographs of appropriately-sized portions and is based on the US Department of Agriculture's Food Pyramid. It also provides subtle teaching on basic nutrition issues.

The NutraNet project continues work conducted in a research project completed in February of 1997 (Stock and Davies, 1997) that successfully documented the ability of a traditional PC-based software prototype to provide a format for guiding users with moderate to severe levels of intellectual disability through the process of independently developing a nutritionally balanced menu. In this research, an expert systems approach was combined with a multimedia interface to design the MenuCoach prototype. The system displayed a variety of food items sequentially along with audio prompts to, for instance, “Choose something to drink with your breakfast”. The food selections for each meal were graphically represented by additions to a plate in the lower corner of the screen to allow tracking of each meal. The five food groups were used as the basis for the expert systems approach to menu development. A pilot study was conducted to test the application against traditional staff-assisted methods of menu development in a local adult residential services organization. A total of 12 adults with intellectual disability each completed one three-day menu using the MenuCoach prototype and one three-day menu with the assistance of their everyday staff. Analysis of the resulting data showed that using the software prototype not only resulted in statistically greater independence in menu development, it also showed the test subjects were able to benefit from the expert systems approach to produce menus that were of significantly greater nutritional value than those created with staff assistance. The system also provided educational opportunities for understanding nutrition through hands-on involvement and the utilization of a color-coded Food Pyramid that was filled in as the user completed each day’s menu.